Though I’m translating two series at the same time, I can still keep up a good rate of translations. I’m so proud!

Fran was surprised at the increase in her physical abilities that happened because she equipped me.

Fran was taken aback after we left the forest in less than thirty minutes.

“Amazing. Master is amazing.”

『Hahaha. Aren’t I?』

“Un.”

『Then what shall we do now? Do you have a destination in mind?』

“Uuun, there’s a city.”

『Near here?』

“That way.”

『So it’s that way but…do you know how far away it is?』

“Not really?”

Anyway, it seemed that she had heard by chance that the slave traders were taking them to the east. Because Fran had the Directional Sense skill, she was able to tell what direction she was going. And that is how the vague answer of ‘That way’ came about.

『Then let’s go that way.』

And so, we took off with the slight feeling that our journey was taking off.

I realized while on the way to the city that because my Appraisal level went up, there was a little something added to my status window.

I gained the mysterious t.i.tle, Mana Conductivity.

I asked Fran about it, but she didn’t know.

Does it increase my mana conducting efficiency? What does it do?

It also says that I’m an “A” but I had no way of knowing if that was good or bad.

Next, the way status displayed my skills changed.

I was able to categorize skills based on their type. So it became a little easier to look at my skills.

And it looked like, because I maxed out Fire Magic, I gained a bonus line in my status.

It was Superior Fire Skill.

After reaching level 10, the bonus changed a normal skill into a special, Superior one. It looked like it was excluded from Set Skills and only I was able to use it—I couldn’t share it with Fran.

If I use ten or more Self-Evolution Points, I’ll need to choose how I use them carefully.

I also told Fran about myself while we were on the road. I didn’t have anything to hide from her. I’ll have to keep my mouth shut to hide this from others, though.

I told her about the fact that I used to be a human, that I grow by absorbing magic crystals, that I could share skills and raise her stats because she was my wielder, and more.

“Magic crystals…”

『That’s right. Well, it hasn’t been that long since I ranked up, so it’ll take a while.』

“Un.”

『Ah, hey, what are you doing?』

“Un.”

Clink clink.

Fran took the magic crystal from a Fanged Rat she found along the way and pressed it hard against my blade. She probably wanted me to absorb it. Though the way she was doing it was violent.

『Wait! I need to cut it! Put it against the edge!』

“Like this?”

『Yeah, exactly.』

“You really absorbed it.”

『That’s how I get stronger. We can sell their loot, so let’s also hunt a lot of demonic beasts.』

“Un. Okay.”

And after that, I tested out Telepathy. Since I was using it for the first time with Fran, there was still a lot of things I didn’t know.

It seemed like it created an area that made two-way communication possible. If I limited the skill to only connect to Fran, then I was able to talk privately with her. Also, I would likely be able to  increase the range to let me talk to everyone in an area. We tested it out on a rabbit that Fran caught, and both Fran and the rabbit could hear my voice through Telepathy.

But Fran’s Telepathy didn’t reach the rabbit. It was probably so that others couldn’t use Telekinesis to communicate while excluding me. It was a skill meant to allow me to communicate with anyone from anywhere.

Our journey was progressing without a hitch.

The plains must have been a special environment because outside of the forest, there were no particularly strong demonic beasts. They were about the same as those in Area 2.

I did the cooking.

Because, back when I was going crazy, I improved my Cooking skill. I was able to use cooking tools without a problem because of Telekinesis, and I was also able to use ingredients. It was the easiest thing in the world for a sword like me to slice and peel things. I was easily able to make fire or water with magic.

The ingredients were the demonic beasts I had kept in my Dimensional Storage. I was able to tell which demonic beasts were edible, maybe thanks to the Cooking skill.

Fran could probably cook as well because she had the same skills as me, but…

I wanted to be in charge of the cooking. Because it was my duty as a guardian.

As a precaution, I equipped the skills Poison Resistance, Enhanced Absorption, Enhanced Digestion, Gluttony, and other skills like that. Gluttony was a skill that let the user gain strength from food after it’s absorbed. I had no way of knowing how much of an effect it would have, but it couldn’t hurt to have it equipped.

Fran’s status had changed to become like this. The shared skills we had in common didn’t show up.

Name: Fran Age: 12 years old

Race: Beastfolk. Black Cat

Job: None

Status: Slave

Lv: 3

HP: 39 MP: 25 Strength: 24 Agility: 46

Skills: Sword Wielding 1, Night Vision, Ability to Skin Prey, Directional Sense

t.i.tles: Dismantling Master, Skill Collector, Flame Arts User, Cooking Master

Her status was overwhelmingly stronger than the goblins.

She was about equal to the demonic beasts in Area 3 or the Evil Goblins.

Thanks to Wielder Status Boost [small] that I acquired a while ago, each of her stats went up because of skills like Strength Boost [small].

I thought this ability was a cheat when she was only level 3. She would have no problem beating any low-rank monsters.

It’ll probably change based on the set skills, but I decided to always keep Sword Wielding, Fire Magic, and status boosting skills set.I also got used to changing the Set Skills. I could probably even change the Set Skills even during combat.

The problem was money.

I was told that the currency in this world is commonly called gold. But we got two silver coins and twenty-four copper coins from the slave trader. All together, it was two hundred twenty-four gold. I couldn’t tell if it was enough for a night at an inn or not; this conundrum could not be solved.

I called it a conundrum because Fran didn’t know the current prices in society. She probably only had a rough idea.

First, we needed to make money. So we can buy armor or the necessities for exploring.

I had a solution for now. The corpses of the demonic beasts I had put in my Dimensional Storage.

According to Fran, selling the loot from demonic beasts is explorers’ main source of income. I will likely make at least some money by selling the loot in my storage.

So, before storing them, I needed to dismantle them and sort out what loot was sellable.

But if a girl like Fran carried around the high rank demonic beasts’ loot, she might attract attention, so I planned to sell the less strong monsters’ loot first.

Well, this was all stuff I could figure out when we arrived at the city though.

『Great. That’s settled.』

We were currently camping out. Fran was dismantling the loot.

I realized this just a moment ago, but after being registered as my wielder, Fran had access to our shared skills even when I moved away from her. Her status boosts also stayed in effect. Even if I wasn’t right next to her, Fran could still use the Dismantle skill.

Fran, with a knife in one hand, was diligently dismantling the demonic beast’s corpse that she had laid down on the ground.

I was creating an odor-nullifying barrier to stop any demonic beasts from smelling the blood and coming here. Fran also put up a barrier herself. It seemed like she was getting skilled with magic skills in the blink of an eye.

I was preparing a meal for Fran. I made a stew with the pot and ingredients from the slave traders’ wagon and meat from the demonic beasts. I also added in the medicinal plants she had picked along the way so it was even perfectly nutritious. In addition, because of my Cooking 10, it tasted perfect——I mean, it should taste perfect. It really was a shame that I couldn’t taste it.

We’ll likely share the work like this in the future, more or less.

With me cooking and keeping watch, and Fran being in charge of dismantling.

I ate the magic crystals, and Fran would either sell or eat everything besides that.

『Fran, all done.』

“Un.”

『And of course, wash your hands.』

“——Aqua Create.”

Fran washed her hands with the water she created. Mana-wise, this was no problem.

She could use my MP pool, so she could make as much water as she wanted without it being a problem.

『Are you finished dismantling?』

“More or less. But I couldn’t do that one.”

『Ahh, the tortoise.』

At the opposite end of Fran’s gaze was the Blast Turtle’s conspicuous corpse. Even with a dismantling skill of 10, it was impossible to cut through that hard sh.e.l.l with an ordinary knife.

Well, it is an evolved demonic beast, so it couldn’t be helped.

Yesterday, she also couldn’t dismantle the Tyrant Saber-toothed Tiger. Mostly because of the tools.

『Looks like that’s up to me today as well.』

“Please.”

『Yeah. Leave it to me. Fran, eat.』

“Un. Thanks.”

I should hurry and dismantle it before Fran’s done.

It was three days after I met Fran.

We continued to walk with the city as our destination.

I was wrapped up in the wagon’s cover to not be noticed by others, and Fran kept me on her back. Because there was no excuse we could give if somebody saw me floating in the air.

『Hey, can we enter the city without a problem?』

“Un?”

『I mean, is there an entry toll or some kind of identification card that we need?』

“Don’t know.”

Fran shook her head from side to side. Cute——.

No, no. This wasn’t the time for that.

Fran had probably never gone through the entry procedures of entering a city because she was a slave. And thus, we had almost no information.

『We might be able to gain some more information if there was someone to ask.』

For the past three days of our journey, we had yet to find even a trace of other people.

But why was that? There weren’t any peddlers or travelers, let alone thieves.

“Because this isn’t a highway.”

『Huh? What do you mean?』

“This is a side road split off from the highway.”

The slave traders probably crossed through that dangerous area full of demonic beasts to save some time.

And how unfortunate for them to meet their demise after being attacked.

If only they hadn’t dragged the slaves along with them.

『Huh? There’re highways?』

Though there was no way there would be a lot of people in that field infested with demonic beasts.

『Where is it?』

“It’ll show up soon if I keep going.”

『That’d be great.』

“It’ll be okay. Probably.”

And four hours pa.s.sed.

During that time, we walked carefree, hunting rabbit-like animals or talking about what to spend Self-Evolution Points on next.

We discussed a variety of options, from increasing our skill levels to getting status boosting skills, but in the end we decided to acquire Nullify Senses and and Memory Increase .

Nullify Senses, as its name suggests, is a skill that blocks my target from sensing anything. According to Fran, talking swords are rare. So I acquired the skill to use in case of a difficult encounter.

Memory Increase is a useful skill that increases the number of Set Skills I can have. Because one of our strong points was the diversity of our skills, increasing the number of skills we could set directly improved our combat ability. I needed to acquire it.

We continued talking about this looking good and that looking good until we discovered the long-awaited highway.

『Yes, it’s the road!』

It was a slightly better road than the beasts’ road that was just a path with the gra.s.s pulled out. But due to constant traffic, the ground was imprinted with wheel marks. That was without a doubt a road.

Thanks to Fran’s Directional Sense, we continued to walk towards the city.

“Ah, life form detected.”

『It doesn’t seem like a human.』

We were able to perceive the size and movements of our targets with the Sense Traces skill. I could tell that they were probably goblins, as I had sensed them multiple times before.

Fran Second Picture 239

“Get them?”

『For now, anyway. I don’t know if we can sell their loot, but I can absorb their magic crystals.』

“Okay.”

Fran nodded her head, and she ran off the highway.

Because I already equipped combat boosting skills, she ran between the trees like the wind.

“They’re there.”

The goblins hid themselves in the forest that was at the edge of the highway. They were likely waiting for someone to come along the road.

There were three of them.

Fran crept up silently behind the goblins and attacked them.

“Hup.”

“Keek?”

The one that Fran had slashed stood unsteadily on its feet then collapsed.

“Haagh!”

She felled the two remaining goblins with the sword after taking it out of the goblin’s corpse. She had become faster with her techniques because she had grown more accustomed to the skills.

The goblins likely hadn’t even realized anything was wrong with their bodies.

Because the fight was over before the first goblin’s body had even hit the ground.

“Master, the rest is yours.”

『Yeah, leave it to me.』

After I absorbed their magic crystals, I cut off the goblins’ horns, the only usable loot on them. Fran told me that she had heard that once.

It was dangerous to leave the corpses near the highway as they could attract large demonic beasts, so I put them in my Dimensional Storage.

“Master, there’re goblins over there.”

『More of them?』

“What shall we do?”

『We have to go that way anyway, so want to get rid of them?』

“Un.”

Fran once again ran at them. But once she ran forward, a completely unexpected sight entered our vision.

“s.h.i.+t! Go away, you d.a.m.n goblins!”

“Kikiki.”

“Gururuah.”

A wagon was being attacked by the goblins.

There were six of them. While there appeared to only be one person on the wagon.

『The goblins again, really?』

“I want to help.”

『Got it. Do your best.』

She once again launched a silent sneak attack from behind.

She sliced three of them with Sword Technique: Triple Thrust. Though it was weak as a swift trio of stabs would be expected to be, it was more than enough against the goblins.

“I-I’m saved!”

“Kiii!”

“Shut up.”

The goblins sensed the threat that Fran’s sudden appearance posed. But Fran cut them down without mercy.

The sole remaining goblin turned to run away, but Fran threw me at it, killing it.

Thanks to the Throwing skill, I had cut clean through its stomach. I had planned on secretly changing my trajectory if the throw was off, but there was no need for that.

“Th-thank you, young lady. You saved me.”

“Un.”

“But you sure are strong. Are you here by yourself?”

“……”

“No, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”

Though Fran was simply not talkative, he must have mistaken her behavior for her not wanting to talk.

The truth was, I was glad that she didn’t rashly give him information. Deciding to allow this misunderstanding about Fran to stand, I gave Fran instructions with Telepathy.

‘Okay.’

“Um, if it’s okay with you, would you like to ride on my wagon? You’re going to Alessa, right?”

It seemed that the name of our destination is Alessa.

But this man; he looked weak, but he wasn’t a fool.

He may have offered a ride to his savior, Fran, out of the goodness of his heart to repay her for saving him from the goblins, but he also wanted her to act as his escort.

We needed information anyway, so we decided to take up his offer. But of course, the debt for saving his life wasn’t that cheap.

I told Fran what to say.

“We’ll escort you up to the town.”

“Ah, yeah, please do.”

Hmph. There was a bitter smile on his face.

“We will escort you for free in exchange for the information we want.”

“Hahahaha. This is fun. I like it! Get on.”

“Un.”

“I’m Randel. And you?”

“Fran.”

“Then I hope our travels go well, Fran-san.”

We didn’t forget to collect the goblins’ horns before we left.

We asked the man a question immediately. Well, it was Fran who asked him, though.

“Can I sell goblin horns?”

“Goblin horns are extremely cheap. They can act as a mana catalyst, but their quality’s the absolute worst.”

I see. So gathering them wasn’t worth it.

But Randel wasn’t done talking yet.

“But since the Adventurer’s Guild encourages destroying any Demon race monsters as soon as they’re found, they can fetch a decent price there.”

Appraisal also encouraged me to destroy them on sight.

Come to think of it, it’s a really arbitrary description.

It clearly had a ma.s.sive grudge against the goblins. But who wrote the description in the first place? A G.o.d? Then it was probably a G.o.d that got rid of the grim reaper. Because the contents were so obviously biased.

The goblins might even feel the same way about humans, that humans are evil.

Well, even so, I didn’t have any complaints. Since I already killed them. If the description had said, “Though they have menacing faces, they are actually kind,” then I’d definitely feel guilty. But because it said the goblins are evil, I felt like I did nothing wrong. Instead, hunting them became a matter of course.

For all I know, that was the descritpion writer’s intent. Or maybe it was trying to get me to hunt the Demon race monsters.

Could the one who wrote the description really be a G.o.d? And that connects to the man’s voice I heard when I reincarnated into this world. Could that have been a G.o.d? If that was the case, then he seemed like a good person. At the very least, it didn’t sound like he was trying to manipulate me. No, wait, could that have been his plan? Wait, wait, but…

Ah, stop, stop. Thinking about this while I have no information is useless. Well, it’s not like this lack of information is doing me any harm, so I should stop thinking about it so hard.

“Your skill in taking down those Threat Level G goblins was superb.”

“Danger Level?”

It was the first time I’d heard that. Based on the context, is it a term used to indicate a demonic beast’s strength or rank?

“You don’t know what that is?”

After that, Randel explained what Threat Levels are. Well, since we didn’t have anything else to talk about, he explained in detail.

Adventurer Ranks

G: Rookies; treated like temps. Not yet true adventurers.

F: Newcomers; receive training. Treated like adventurers for the time being.

E: Does work for him or herself. Okay to proclaim oneself to be an adventurer.

D: Mid-tier adventurers. Can be party leaders.

C: Veterans. Appear superhuman to common people.

B: Elites. Not unusual for the strongest adventurer in a small guild to be this rank.

A: Heros; there are only a few in each country. Even the common people know their names. Famous to the point of being praised by bards.

S: Mythical. There are only eight in the world. Even kings bow their heads to them, and they can even give commands to guild leaders.

Demonic Beast Threat Levels

G: Small fries; an adult man can beat them. Goblin, Fanged Rat.

F: Able to destroy caravans and guards. Large Brown Bear, Five-Headed Wolf.

E: Able to destroy villages. Lesser Wyvern, Ogre.

D: Able to destroy towns. Lesser Hydra, Blast Tortoise.

C: Able to destroy large towns. Knights must mobilize right away. Tyrant Saber-Toothed Tiger, Low-ranked Demon.

B: Able to destroy nations. Crisis requiring mobilization of all a nation’s troops. High-ranked Demon, High-ranked Dragon, King-tier Giant.

A: Able to destroy continents. Demon King, King-tier Dragon, Lich.

S: Global catastrophe; demonic beasts of myths. Fenrir, G.o.d-tier Dragon.

Adventurer Ranks and Threat Levels are matched so that parties of corresponding ranks can defeat a demonic beast of that level. Or adventurers can solo kill demonic beasts that are one Threat Level lower than the adventurer’s rank.

Goblins were at the lowest level. But when more than five of them horde together into a mob, the Threat Level increases to F.

So that meant, since Fran just defeated the goblin mob alone, she was at least Adventurer Rank E.

“But this is the first time I’ve ever been attacked by a goblin mob on a highway.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. You see, the adventurers regularly make their rounds here.”

So there are adventurers. He also indicated that there were guilds, so it was fantasy-esque to a T. Now I couldn’t wait to get to the guild.

“Even I can take care of a goblin or two.”

As a reference, this is what Randel’s status looked like.

Name: Randel Age: 39 years old

Race: Human

Job: Merchant

Lv: 13

HP: 32 MP: 15 Strength: 20 Agility: 22

Skills: Transport 3, Carriage Driving 2, Bargaining 2, Arithmetic 5, Business 6, Spear Wielding 3, Smart Talking 2

Equipment: Spear made of sc.r.a.p iron. leather breastplate, spiderweb coat

Well, it didn’t look like he’d lose in a one-on-one battle, but it looked like he’d be in trouble if he got surrounded. Despite being only level 4, Fran’s status outs.h.i.+ned Randel’s to a spectacular degree.

“For whatever reason, the demonic beasts have been a lot more active since a month ago.”

A month ago, he said. That was about the time that I attacked Area 5.

“Why?”

“Something must have happened at the Demon Wolf’s Plain.”

“Demon Wolf’s Plain?”

“You don’t know what that is? It’s an A rank demonic area to the east of here.”

“Is it well known?”

“Of course. It’s not one of the top ten, but it’s still rank A.”

Demonic area was the the term for things like dungeons, territories that demonic beasts controlled. Each one was given a Threat Level from G to S, and that rank A one was second from the top.

The only demonic areas above rank A are the top ten S rank areas, so rank A could easily be considered dangerous.

Did I go hunting there?

Come to think of it, the boss was strong.

But I became curious about something.

“Why is it called the Demon Wolf’s Plain?”

There were nearly no wolf-type demonic beasts there. Even the boss of the western region was a cat.

I had no way of knowing why it was called the Demon Wolf’s Plain.

“It’s because there’s a legend that a long, long time ago, an S rank demonic beast called Fenrir died there. They say that Fenrir’s mana remains in the middle of that plain even to this day. Because of that, apparently there’s an interesting phenomenon: the demonic beasts get weaker the closer you get to the center.”

Shockingly, what I thought was a barrier was actually the mana of Fenrir or something else. And it had already pa.s.sed away.

Without that barrier, my life would’ve been a lot more h.e.l.lish so I really wanted to give my thanks to Fenrir.

But could there be a connection between the place I found myself in and Fenrir? I was curious.

“People say there’s an altar or something in the middle of the plain, and there’s an object there that n.o.body knows the origin of. Several people went to investigate, but they said they couldn’t tell what it was.”

『Huh? Me? They didn’t know there was a sword there?』

“You’ve never heard that there was a sword there?”

“A sword? No, not that I can recall.”

『Hmm. I had thought that he could tell me where I came from, but it seems I won’t find an answer that easily.』

Randel didn’t have any more information beyond that. What a shame.

“Next to the Demon Wolf’s Plain is the Forest of Draining; a special forest that absorbs mana.”

I had a hard time there. It was a place I didn’t want to back to.

“Thanks to that, none of the demonic beasts from the Demon Wolf’s Plain go to the outside, but it’s not completely unaffected by the Plain’s effects. Every couple of years, the regions start fighting, or the larger demonic beasts fight each other.”

I see. Could that be s.h.i.+ft from one generation of demonic beasts to the next?

“That ends up frightening the demonic beasts that live around the Forest of Draining, and it makes them a whole lot more aggressive. Maybe there’s a fight happening in one of the regions?”

That was totally my fault. Because I hunted all of the regional bosses.

Could the aftereffects of that have reached all the way here? Teheh.

Randel hesitated over whether to turn back on the highway, but then he wouldn’t be able to keep the deadline for his transport request, so he decided to forge on through.

Hahaha. Sorry about that, Randel-san. As an apology, I won’t try and export more from you for being your escort. I really am sorry.

Two hours after we got on the wagon.

“Oh, there’s Alessa.”

I saw what looked like a wall on a far hill. It looked like a protective wall constructed around a town.

Though we could see it, it was still incredibly far away.

After two more hours on that rickety wagon, I could barely start making out the details of the wall.

Now that I was looking at it from close by, it was extremely big.

According to Randel’s explanation, this was the biggest town in the area. With about ten thousand residents.

And it seemed that Alessa was the only place with a large adventurer’s guild.

And that was when I realized I had forgotten to ask something important to Randel.

“How much is the entrance fee?”

“Ahh, it’s 300 gold.”

Bad news, we were short.

He said that everywhere but the Adventurer’s Guild treated goblin horns as worthless, so what do we do?

I should ask him about all the prices while we had the chance. So that way, I could make some plans for how much to bring for next time.

“How much for a day’s lodging and food? The cheapest place is fine.”

“Lodging, you say. The worst inn’s price was about 200 gold, I think. Of course, there’s no food there.”

The average meal costed 50 gold. One loaf of bread was 10 gold. The cheapest knife was 300 gold. One bath costed 20 gold.

This was the feel I got from this. 1 gold was worth about 10 yen?

One copper coin was worth 1 gold, and the denominations went copper coin, large copper coin, silver coin, large silver coin, gold coin, large gold coin, and each one was worth 10 of the coins before it.

“How much are goblin horns at the guild?”

“One pair is worth 20 gold. And they’d fetch about 5 gold from a merchant.”

Cheap! Goblins are so cheap! To think that we can’t even pay for lodging unless we hunt over ten of them…

But what should we do? Even if we sold the horns from the eight goblins, we still wouldn’t have the 300 gold.

Maybe I should sell the demonic beast loot I have in my Dimensional Storage?

That was what I thought, but Randel told us that he couldn’t buy them.

“The goods I deal in are mostly food-stuffs and weapons. I’m not so sure when it comes to cheap, common things like goblin horns, but I can’t give a professional evaluation of that loot.”

Oh no, what do I do? Should I force him to buy it, even at a low price? But that’s also a waste…

As I was worrying about this, my Detection picked up something new.

Further along the highway.

I had Randel slow down and we scouted ahead

There were goblins hiding in the forest. They were probably waiting to ambush someone.

We ended them in a flash with Fran’s Sword Techniques and my magic.

We retrieved horns from the five goblins, when our eyes fell on one goblin’s sword.

A club probably wouldn’t be worth a thing, but I thought that a sword should fetch at least a small price.

『What luck. We might have 300 gold if we sell this to Randel.』

We asked Randel about it, and he bought it for 100 gold. It was more expensive than I thought.

“You’re buying it for so much?”

“It may be made of bronze, but it’s in good condition. It must have gotten the sword from an adventurer recently.”

We really were lucky. And so, we were able to enter the town.

We should hold onto the goblin horns and submit them to the guild.

On the way, we hunted one more demonic beast, and we sold its loot to Randel.

It was a fifty centimeter long, umber beetle called Black Bug. Apparently its carapace is used for armor for beginners. He said he knew how much this was worth, so he bought it for 20 gold. It may actually be better to focus on goblins that have weapons. Goblins were truly fated to be hunted by me.

“Yo. Randel, it’s you. You look no worse for the wear.”

“Yeah, though there were some close shaves along the way.”

“And that young lady?”

“Picked her up while on my way here. Could you take care of her entrance procedures?”

“Got it. You sure were lucky that Randel’s wagon was pa.s.sing by. I bet you felt safe, since Randel is so strong.”

Randel gave a wry smile at the gatekeeper’s words. When the truth was, Fran was the one escorting Randel.

We didn’t want to attract attention, so we asked Randel to just call Fran a traveler he picked up while coming here.

“That’ll be 300 gold. That’s the entrance fee. It’s good for three days. Pay close attention to that, since you’ll have to pay again if you try and come in again after that.”

We had already heard that before. And that after becoming either legal citizens or receiving an adventurer card, there was no entrance fee.

Thus, we needed to get an adventurer card as soon as possible.

“Welcome to Alessia.”

He said there was no age restriction for joining the Adventurer’s Guild. But there was an apt.i.tude test, and if we failed to pa.s.s, then they wouldn’t issue us a card.

“Then I’ll be going back to my shop. Fran-san, will you be going straight to the Adventurer’s Guild?

“Un.”

“My shop is at the far west from there. Come by when you have some free time.”

After saying that, Randel left.

He didn’t ask us anything even while leaving. Completely ignorant of the ways of the world, but possessed of incredible skill, such a strange little girl was walking by herself along the highway. There was clearly a story behind this. But he didn’t mention this even until the end. He was a good person.

He said he does business with adventurers, so we should meet with him when we have some money.

『Then shall we go?』

“Un.”

We walked along the road that Randel directed us on that would bring us to the Adventurer’s Guild.

Hmm, it really was a clean city. It was like a European medieval city.

It was nice. It absolutely oozed a fantasy feel.

And it was the first time since I came to this world that I saw so many people. That alone was enough to make me delighted.

But what was even more exciting were the extra-racial people mixed in with the humans.

Like a beastfolk man with animal ears and a tail, or a shockingly alluring, busty elf——no, a lady elf. From hirsute dwarfs to young men with what looked like insect wings on their backs, there were all manner of races walking along the street.

And among the people I just mentioned, I could spot the occasional person who looked like an adventurer.

I checked their status, and they were all definitely lower than Fran. Though there were quite a few of them that were very close.

But the number of skills we had and the skill levels were overwhelmingly higher.

The highest skill level I saw among the people I observed was an adventurer with Sword Wielding 7. I could tell that my Sword Wielding 7 was unusual.

It was possible to defeat an opponent with stronger stats if you used skills. That was something I learned first hand by fighting in the plain.

You could even say that, to at least a small degree, a difference in stats is meaningless in comparison to a difference in skills.

With that in mind, Fran would likely have no difficulty living as an adventurer.

But there was something else that weighed on my mind.

I looked at the abilities of the adventurers’ equipped weapons, but…

Name: High Quality Steel Long Sword

Attack: 398 MP: 5 Durability 600

Mana Conversion Rate F

Skills: None

A longsword like me. But its attack power was leaps and bounds beyond mine. The fact that I beat it in the lines after that tidbit did nothing to comfort me. I felt that I had been defeated as a sword.

And what was even worse was the sword’s material.

High quality steel.

In other words, I hadn’t lost to a legendary metal like mythril or orichalc.u.m, but to mere iron. That hit me hard.

After that, I saw tons of weapons were flaunting attack stats higher than mine.

Because about one in every five people had a weapon like that.

And the clincher was hanging at a man’s hip.

Name: Mythril Alloy Dagger

Attack: 423 MP: 20 Durability: 700

Mana Conversion Rate D

Skills: None

『Ha, hahahaha…』

At this point, all I could do was laugh.

Ahh, so I was just a dull knife. I was just full of bl.u.s.ter from killing those demonic beasts.

Something like me is just an overly decorated sword that was all talk.

“What’s wrong?”

『Ahh, Fran. I was completely wrong.』

“Un?”

I explained what I saw to Fran.

That if I didn’t have skills, I would just be a c.r.a.p sword, inferior to all the weapons around us.

I was almost certainly a sword created by some showoff n.o.ble who got tired of me.

Pat pat.

Fran stroked my blade.

『Fran…』

“Un.”

『Are you comforting something as useless as me?』

“Master has skills.”

What a nice young lady!

That was right. Even if I was a c.r.a.p sword compared to the sold swords in terms of attack power, I could act as support with my skills.

That was the only worth I had.

I’ve decided! I’ll become a skill master!

But I wanted to buy her a nice sword, not a dull one like me.

She didn’t have a choice but to use me now, but I’ll buy her a strong one later.

And to do that, we’ll need to enter the guild and make tons of money!

『Great, sorry for worrying you. I’m okay now. Let’s go to the Adventurer’s Guild.』

“Un.”

Though we wasted time because of me, we were able to make it to the Adventurer’s Guild.

『It’s big.』

The building was big even compared to the other buildings around it.

It was an indication that there were lots of adventurers inside.

『Here we come!』

I gave a shout. Though n.o.body could hear it.

The inside was cleaner than I thought.

Though I was expecting a more rustic, pub-like interior.

It was kind of like the lobby of a cla.s.sy hotel.

Well, it would do the guild’s reputation harm if it was too much of a mess, so I supposed it made sense.

But a twelve-year-old girl entering alone attracted a lot of attention.

Many adventurers around us watched as Fran walked towards the counter.

“This is the Adventurer’s Guild, so…”

“I know. I want to join.”

“Ah, okay. Just you alone?”

“Un, just me.”

It seemed that even in this world, a twelve-year-old girl joining a guild all by herself was a rare occurrence.

It would likely have been okay if the twelve-year-old girl had a proper sword and armor, and nonchalantly gave off the vibe that she had been hunting since she was young.

But Fran didn’t even have any armor on.

Rather, her outfit was in a mess so she looked like a run-away slave.

She didn’t fit into this place at all.

The female receptionist that Fran just talked to gave her an explanation.

“Every applicant must take an test before being accepted.”

“Un.”

“Will a full-contact fight be okay?”

“It’s okay.”

“Will it truly be okay? There are cases in which applicants have been injured.”

“I don’t care.”

“The guild is not responsible for anything that happens.”

“Okay.”

“Is that, I see… Understood. Please wait a moment.”

Having realized that Fran was taking the test, the adventurers began talking amongst themselves.

No one was going to try to stop us, but they weren’t particularly welcoming, either.

It felt like they were looking down on Fran, thinking it inane that such a young child would want to become an adventure.

That should be obvious. If I were in their shoes, I would have thought the exact same thing.

『Fran you okay?』

“Un?”

『No, it’s nothing.』

The receptionist came back after we waited for a bit.

“Pardon the wait. Please come this way.”

“Un.”

She lead us to a room within the guild, a gymnasium with all four walls covered in bricks. It seemed to be the guild’s training grounds.

A strong looking man was standing in that training ground.

He was likely over two meters tall. In addition, he had on c.u.mbersome black armor with spikes, so he looked just like some turn-of-the-century overlord. Standing at his side was a large combat axe, amplifying that feeling.

I could almost hear the menacing sound effects.

A normal kid would likely have burst into tears at just the sight of him.

Because even someone like me who was used to the threatening feeling inspired by demonic beasts was a little surprised.

“Are you the potential recruit?”

Uwah. He was incredibly intimidating despite just staring at us.

“Un.”

But Fran didn’t seem afraid at all. She was acting the same as usual.

Our young lady is amazing!

“I’m Dunadrond, your examiner.”

That’s way too many “D”s. It was hard to p.r.o.nounce.

“The test itself is simple. You just have to fight me. If you lose too easily, then you fail!”

“Okay.”

“I’ll tell you this ahead of time, but it’s hard for me to hold back. I’m going to go all out, so you’d better leave if you don’t want to get hurt!”

The moment Dunadrond shouted that, a powerful pressure came over us.

Did he just use an Intimidation skill? Did that mean the fight already started?

『Great, let’s give it a shot!』

“Un!”

We were currently in a battle with Dunadrond at the Adventurer Guild’s training grounds.

He was overpoweringly menacing.

If I were in a human body, I might have bowed my head and begged for my life. Thank goodness I was a sword.

I wonder how his stats are.

Name: Dunadrond Age: 46 years old

Race: n.o.ble

Job: Greater Warrior

Lv: 38

HP: 246 MP: 133 Strength: 198 Agility: 131

Skills: Intimidate 4, Transport 3, Recovery Speed Boost 5, Sense Danger 4, Instructing 4, Regeneration 5, Speed 6, Earth Magic 2, Throwing 4, Poison Resistance 7, Tree Chopping 3, Axe Techniques 6, Axe Wielding 7, Roar 3, Revival, Energy Manipulation, Harden Muscles, Automatic HP Regeneration, Strength Boost [small]

Equipment: Heavy Tempered Steel Axe, Great Black Tortoise’s Full Body Armor, Tyrant’s Mantle, Snake Hide Boots, Executive’s Bracelet

Uwaah! That’s super strong! In terms of stats, he totally beat us.

This man, in terms of physical strength, surpa.s.sed the lesser wyverns.

And his skills, for the most part, were pretty high leveled. And the same for his weapon’s rank.

Name; Twin Headed Steel Axe

Attack: 650 MP: 3 Durability: 650

Mana Conversion Rate E

It has an attack of 650? No freaking way! It doesn’t scare me one bit, got it?!

He was even a cool race, a n.o.ble.

It seemed like being an examiner wasn’t just for show.

The other adventurers I’d seen didn’t even come close to matching him.

Was he serious when he said he’d be coming at us without holding back? Isn’t this just a beginner’s test?

I was pretty sure a normal beginner would lose in a flash…

Whatever. We should do all we can. After all, even if we don’t win, they said we just had to show them our ability.

『Fran, you ready?』

“Okay.”

“Then let’s go!”

In the next moment, Dunadrond became a blur.

And Fran flew to the side in an instant.

Boom!

That ma.s.sive man approached us faster than I could’ve imagined and he swung the axe down at us. That huge axe went through the training ground’s floor, producing a cloud of dust.

“Hoo, so you dodged it!”

『That was close!』

I saw that his axe was stuck in the ground right next to us. Seeing as how big a hole he made in the ground, he was incredibly strong.

“Hyap!”

He lifted his axe again and struck down.

Boom!

The ground was once again ripped apart and reduced to gravel.

Her bangs fluttered backwards at the wind pressure.

Hey, old man, wasn’t that attack just now dangerous? It’d leave a serious wound if it even grazed her.

This is ridiculous! Has anyone pa.s.sed this test before?

『It’s dangerous to only run away. I’m attacking!』

I wasn’t only observing the situation. I needed to land a strong hit before one of his strong attacks connected.

I didn’t have to worry about killing him. He wasn’t only overwhelmingly strong, but he also had on Executive’s Bracelets.

It was an item that absorbed the damage from a fatal attack once.

“Hah!”

“Hoo, you’re fast!”

It was blocked completely by his axe.

I had secretly cast support magic, increasing Fran’s strength and agility, but our opponent was still stronger.

But that wasn’t all.

While he was busy blocking Fran’s consecutive attacks, the earth beneath Dunadrond’s feet rose up like tentacles and wrapped around his legs.

“Whoa! Silent casting?!”

Hmph, she surprised him. Well, it was because Fran didn’t give any sign that she was preparing a spell.

The truth is, I had secretly cast and activated the earth magic.

Dunadrond, too busy holding off Fran, was unable to avoid the magic at his feet.

And seeing Dunadrond try and retreat, Fran let loose a strong technique.

Though his feet were stuck, he was able to block Fran’s attack with only the free movement of his upper body.

But he won’t be able to block this. Just try.

“Tri-Explosion.”

“Uwhoooa!”

Level 10 fire magic engulfed Dunadrond.

The three simultaneous explosions, coming at him from three directions, were not only difficult to block, but also obscured his vision. Of course, it seemed like Fran cast it, but I was the one who activated the spell.

In other words, while I was casting the spell, Fran was readying her sword technique.

“Huuuup. Dragon Fang!”

A Sword Techniques 7 stab. Additionally boosted with Telekinesis.

Fran charged at Dunadrond as he was unable to keep his balance from her barrage.

He must have realized what techinque Fran used.

Dunadrond opened his eyes wide in shock and made an astonished face.

“How can such a little girl…! How can she use magic and Sword Techniques consecutively?!”

Dunadrond, unable to move his body, couldn’t dodge Fran’s attack.

“It’s over.”

“Kwaaagh!”

I sliced through Dunadrond’s side and once again sent him flying.

Slam!

Though he was likely around two hundred kilograms, we sent him flying ten meters and halfway through the brick wall of the training grounds.

I had only ever used it on demonic beasts, so I got to find out how it worked on people.

But was that too much? He probably didn’t die.

“…Cough…”

Thank goodness he’s alive.

Dunadrond seemed to still be conscious despite coughing up a lot of blood.

Fran slowly walked towards him.

Was he trying to use recovery magic?

And as I was watching him to see what he was doing, Fran lifted me up to right in front of Dunadrond’s eyes.

“Did I pa.s.s?”

Yeah, Fran was keeping her cool.

I had completely forgotten that this was a test.

“…Kuha, ha. You pa.s.s.”

“Okay.”

Is he still able to move? How st.u.r.dy is this guy? I stabbed a whole through his side.

But he was oblivious of my surprise and laughed all of a sudden when he got out of the wall.

It seemed like he actually did go easy on us. If he had decided to go all out, then he would’ve disregarded our counterattack and swung down with his axe. Well, maybe this was normal because it was a test.

“Hahahahaha! This is the first time a beginner did so much damage to me!”

That guy was monstrously st.u.r.dy. Is there anyone who can kill him?

“Dunadrond-san!”

The receptionist ran towards us, perhaps having heard the destruction.

“Please tell me you didn’t go all out——. Huh?

Ahh, I see. Did she think that he had went full out against a beginner?

Well, she probably didn’t think that that sound was Fran sending the examiner flying.

“Huh? Huuuh?”

The attendant seemed genuinely surprised at seeing Dunadrond covered in blood.